Jeremiah 3:1–10

Judah Is Unfaithful

3“If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and marries another man,

should her first husband come back to her again?

If he went back to her, wouldn’t the land become completely unclean?

But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers,

and now you want to come back to me?” says the Lord.

²“Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.

Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute?

You have sat by the road waiting for lovers,

like an Arab in the desert.

You made the land unclean,

because you did evil and were like a prostitute.

³So the rain has not come,

and there have not been any spring rains.

But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute.

You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.

⁴Now you are calling to me,

‘My father, you have been my friend since I was young.

⁵Will you always be angry at me?

Will your anger last forever?’

Judah, you said this,

but you did as much evil as you could!”

Judah and Israel Are like Sisters

⁶When King Josiah was ruling Judah, the Lord said to me, “Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree. ⁷I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she does this evil,’ but she didn’t come back. And Israel’s wicked sister Judah saw what she did. ⁸Judah saw that I divorced unfaithful Israel because of her adultery, but that didn’t make Israel’s wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute! ⁹And she didn’t care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country unclean and was guilty of adultery, because she worshiped idols made of stone and wood. ¹⁰Israel’s wicked sister didn’t even come back to me with her whole heart, but only pretended,” says the Lord.